Getting out of Bunbury was not as easy as it should have been because Ocean Drive was closed for a local running event. The motel owner told us how to get off the street and through to the next, so we got back onto the highway after several diversions. Today, the first part of our drive was a diversion from Highway One to see the southwest corner of Western Australia. We left Bunbury on the Bussell Highway but just before we reached Busselton we took the alternative tourist route which passes through the Tuart forest and then along the coast. When we reached the town, a market was underway, and it began to rain. We had coffee in the old courthouse and lock up which is now a café. Busselton has the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere which was first built in 1853 and is now 1841 metres long. It dates from the town’s time as a timber port and was used for this purpose until 1972. It now has tourist attractions on it.

Further along the road is the town of Cowaramup which derived its name from a now disused railway junction. The town has 42 life-size fibreglass Friesian cows in various sites around town. It reminded me of the cows that appeared in northwest England a few years ago but which were far from life-like unlike these. In the green countryside around both dairy and beef cattle are raised and some sheep. There are also lots of wineries. As it was Sunday, very few were open for tasting and the Margaret River Regional Wine Centre where you can taste wine from several wineries was shut. The one in Pemberton only opens Monday to Friday. The rain continued, and we were in countryside with rivers, pools, lakes and the water channels at the side of the road actually had water in them for the first time on this trip. There were black swans, ibis and egrets in the pools. In our six weeks in Australia we have had more rain than we saw in the three months of summer before we left. At Karridale, the Bussell Highway becomes the Brockman Highway, but after a few miles we took at shortcut along the Stewart Road to pick up the Vasse Highway which runs through forests of old, tall eucalyptus trees (karri trees) to Pemberton. One kangaroo bounded across the road in front of us. It continued to rain, heavily at times. Had it been dry, we might have visited the Big Brook Arboretum north of Pemberton, but it involves several miles on unsealed roads and we preferred to stay dry. Back on Highway One, now called the South Western Highway, it still ran among trees and after being in much drier landscapes I was more than happy to be in the forest.

We crossed the Rooney Bridge and through part of Shannon National Park, so I assume some Irish people settled this part of the country. Later we passed by D’Entrecasteaux National Park which was named after a French Naval Officer. The road started to descend towards Walpole and the coast. At the John Rate lookout, we got our first glimpse of the Southern Ocean on this trip. He was the first forester in the district and in the 1950s discovered a third species of tingle tree. Ironically, he was killed by a falling branch of a karri tree.

We were soon in Walpole which has a population of 439 and found our motel for the night. Walpole has an old piece of machinery near the information office which was used for hauling logs: indicating how important timber was for this community at one point.

You could spend quite a lot of time in this part of the world: there are lots of walks in the National Parks and a whole coast to explore. Sadly, on this trip, we don’t have enough time. 227 miles today and the trip total is now 7.747 miles.